TopGunn#22

I thought Rocco whiffed on the way he handled Dobnak from the beginning. In ST, Dobnak flat out earned the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation. Happ was better than Shoemaker. So I thought Dobs should have been #4 or #5 from the get go. Lately, Shoemaker has been better than Happ who was pasted not once but TWICE against the White Sox. It's too bad Alcala gave up the two run bomb last night. he looked really NASTY before the rain delay, then BOOM ! We're down a run. I would leave Dobnak in the rotation for some time and pay close attention to Happ & Shoemaker. One of them eventually will have to go once Duran gets enough innings in and is brought up.

In most cases I am Old School and pretty traditional. However, there are two things about Baseball that I've never been O.K. with. 1. Those that can't embrace the DH. It's been great for the game. Allowing a lot of older players to continue doing what they do best for a couple years longer...HIT. 2. "Unwritten" Rules. There's a reason these rules are "unwritten." THEY'RE STUPID ! Just. Play. The. Game. Mercedes is the batter. He's not supposed to make an out on purpose. He has a bat in his hand and he should do something with it. The idea a team up 5-1 in the 8th shouldn't try to steal a base, all this crap, COME ON ! How many times has a team rallied to beat another team late in the game. PLAY. THE. GAME. Don't bunt when a guy has a no-hitter? Even if it's a 1-0 game? And yes, throwing a baseball at the batter when we've seen what can happen is not acceptable. I pitched. Sometimes one gets away from you. But I never threw at anybody "intentionally." That's just not right.

It's hard not to wonder what the FO has planned for this unlucky, under achieving bunch. Will we have a major sell off ? This is kind of like 1968 to me. We had been a good team from 1962-1967 with just one clunker year (1964) and even that year gave us the Rookie of the Year (Oliva) 49 HR's out of Killebrew, 32 HR's out of Allison and 25 HR's out of Jimmie Hall. Kaat, Pascual and Mudcat were "decent" starters and Al Worthington was tremendous out of the bullpen. In 1965 we won the pennant, in 1966 we finished 2nd and in 1967 we lost out to the Red Sox on the last day of the season. Then came the disaster of 1968. Killebrew hurt, Oliva hurting, Allison and hall a shells of their former selves, Zoilo traded to the Dodgers. I NEVER saw a season like 1968 coming for the Twins after all those solid years. They rebounded to win the West in 1969 and 1970 before many lean years came to pass. Is this just a cursed year? Or are major changes needed ??

No Way. Shoe gave up 3 BOMBS yesterday. He's given the Twins very little at all this season. I realize not every MLB team can have a starting staff as deep as the Dodgers, but good grief, if a team has to "settle" for Shoe's level of "production" in the 5th starter spot, that team is headed for 90-95 losses. That is not what any of us expected out of the Twins this year is it ??

I'd be much more in favor of DFA'ing Shoemaker. I've seen enough. Unless he's PERFECT he's practically an HR an inning guy. Cut bait. Move on.

To say this is complete system failure at this point is an understatement. The Twins are unwatchable. Who in their right mind would even consider PAYING to go to a game at this point. And that's without even considering the current crusade against law enforcement in the Twin Cities, how potentially unsafe it could be to go to the ballpark. But even watching on TV is just far too frustrating. Lastly, it's certainly time to send Sano to St. Paul to "find his stroke" because he is just plain LOST at the plate.

Aside from the Twins starters or pitchers in general (we know they've been bad. remarkably bad). Isn't it time to send Sano down to St. Paul to "find his stroke" ?? He is absolutely LOST at the plate.

Thank You Nash ! And to the rest of you that chimed in. I needed a breath of fresh air while wandering the Sahara Desert of what has been a very frustrating beginning of the season. Hope springs eternal.

I have to agree with Darius regarding Rocco. In my humble opinion, Paul Molitor was doing a LOT with nothing. But he was more old school and not "analytic" enough for our brilliant FO. When the FO gave him CRAP players like the no spring training Lance Lynn (who is obviously NOT that player now) and the Sano-like swing and miss Logan Morrison and guys like Buxton and Sano were complete zeros as far as positive impact it was Molitor's fault. Why does Rocco get a 14% pass on this? Literally, every late game decision Rocco has made has been wrong. The probability of that is astounding. LA Vikes fan is spot on: It's time to cut the cord with Shoemaker. Dobnak or Thorpe should have his spot. Shoemaker earned nothing out of spring training and has been terrible in the regular season. Get guys like Larnach and Duran up here SOON. If Kepler, Sano and Polanco don't wake up, move on! We've seen these consistent flaws in each of their approaches for a LONG time. I see guys going up to the plate with seemingly NO plan. They flail away with absolutely no idea of situational hitting. One last point, and this regards the bullpen. I too was frustrated with the lack of aggressive moves to bolster the BP. But two of my favorite solutions were Rosenthal and Yates. Look where they are now. I would have signed one of them for sure and been up a creek without a paddle. Sometimes FO's just blow it. This one did for Molitor the season they found their excuse to fire him and it looks like our Boy Wonders have done it again.

Arraez should be at the top, no matter how well or poorly Polanco or anyone else is hitting. Polanco and Sano should be "rested" frequently while we determine if "others" could do better. (Arraez is my starting 2B-man going forward as long as Donaldson is in the lineup). When the team is 2 for 26 with RISP during the losing streak it's NOT just Polanco. But he is a large part of it, with Sano head and shoulders above everybody else for futility.

The situational hitting of the Twins is pathetic. Often times when all they need a hitter to do is put the ball in play---they strikeout. Move a runner over? Pop out. This has been painfully obvious in the extra inning games but not exclusively limited to them.

My hope...and patience with Sano is at an end. He is who he is and even with the advantage of being able to watch an approach and strategy at the plate like Cruz, he's just not ever going to "get there" in my opinion. Kiriloff and Larnach profile as much more complete hitters. I'm hopeful this is Sano's last year with the Twins. Dangle him to a team that either needs power and/or plays in a power hitter's park and move on.

No, this is not a small sample size. Most of us thought something of Cruz had rubbed off on Sano after the 2019 Bomba squad but even in 2019 there were HUGE holes in his swing. I was pushing all off-season for a trade of Sano. I liked Colorado as a possible landing spot due to the temptation of his power---then they signed Cron. He will always be a rally killer with his strikeouts. It's not really a decision between Kepler and Sano at all. Sano will be gone in 2021, possibly 2022. Kiriloff, Larnach, Rooker and Sabato give the Twins plenty of BETTER options than Sano. The sooner the Twins make a change, the better.

Amen ! I have to admit, as a guy approaching 63 years old I have an affinity for players that can do what Arraez can do in this day and age. It's pitifully underappreciated, yet vital to TEAM success. To hell with launch angles and OPS. Winning, successful teams NEED guys like Arraez. And, like a fool, I drafted Donaldson in the 17th round of my Fantasy Baseball draft thinking I'd gotten a steal (and maybe I did). As soon as he lashed that double to Left Center Field I KNEW I had, 3.4 seconds later I knew I'd fallen into a pit of snakes. After a trade before the season opened of Robbie Ray to acquire Gary Sanchez, I think I need to drop Mitch Garver (a 28th round pick in a 10 team, 33 man roster draft) and pick up a guy I WANTED but couldn't find a place for in Luis Arraez to replace Donaldson/Garver. Twins FO: Sign Arraez !! You won't regret it !!

Yeah, Wiel and Celestino but Balazovic as well. Is he in Fort Myers ?? I thought he was further along. I wonder if Kiriloff plays a good deal of 1B in St. Paul with Rooker and Larnach also on the roster. You don't need to platoon Kiriloff, Larnach and Rooker. I want them to bat as many times against BOTH RHP and LHP. St. Paul is where they should be getting exposed to ALL the game situations possible. On another note: I STILL have high hopes for Wander Javier. Where is he going to be to start the season ??

To me, the obvious solution is to have Dobnak in the rotation and let Shoemaker slot into the bullpen. Shoe has done nothing to make him a LOCK as a starting pitcher and Happ has a better track record than Shoe. Maeda, Berrios, Pineda, Happ and Dobnak.

I'd rather put Shoemaker in the bullpen and have Dobnak as the #5 starter. Dobnak has done well in the past and has been stellar in spring training.

I'm not worried. He'll make the team. And Rooker should as well. Garlick is deserving, but having options makes him a probable Triple A designation. The other guy I think is closer than people think and should get a chance soon is Larnach. And if Kepler doesn't figure it out pretty soon (or Sano for that matter) we may be seeing more of Kiriloff at 1B and Larnach and Rooker in the corner outfield spots

I'm 100% on board with Arraez as the leadoff hitter. When you have a guy that gets on base 40% of the time that's called a "table-setter." The fact that he doesn't run exceptionally well is not a factor at all. Especially when you have the kind of power coming up behind him that the Twins have. To me, for Kepler to shine, he must be moved down to 5th or 6th in the order and become an RBI guy. The Twins don't run enough and Kepler isn't a great base stealer anyway, so move him down and let him hit 25-30 HR's in the middle of the order. This is why the Twins need to carve out some kind of role for Arraez to be in the lineup 80% of the time, whether Kiriloff is in LF or 1B. Arraez is just the prototypical "table-setter" and belongs at the top of the order.

The idea of signing Buxton to an extension similar to Kepler, Polanco and Sano is a good one. A guy like Celestino is not that far off and in addition to Urbina there may be some others in the pipeline. Heck, I still think Lewis will end up our CF'er. But locking Buxton up for 3-5 years would be good for both sides. Buxton gets a certain amount of security and the Twins are somewhat protected if he keeps getting hurt. A guy like Broxton is very appealing, especially the way he's been playing in Spring Training. Plus, a contract extension makes trading Buxton easier if the Twins decide to move on. There's certainty for the team acquiring him. The Twins are BETTER with Buxton though, and that's why you extend him (and Berrios PLEASE) !!!

Well, Kiriloff throws LH as well so it really wouldn't matter who is in LF and who is in RF between the two of them. Would kind of like to see Broxton stick around, especially for when Buxton bites down on an apple and has to spend 6 weeks on and off the IL.

Strum got it. I was thinking AK-76 until I saw he had changed to number 19. For me it's AK-19. I sure hope he breaks camp with the team. Gonna be a real battle with the White Sox this year. Need every win we can get and AK-19 will get us some.

Doc Gast, Channing1964, cHawk, ALL great points (and why this is such a fun site to come to). I think cHawk has the right idea, German Marquez has always been a target of mine. He's also very expensive as reflected by Baseball Trade Values, just not as expensive as Castillo (so you don't need to take on a contract like Castellanos---swapping him for Kepler). There's no doubt the Rockies won't be competitive for a few years. Marquez is probably available. I see it as a mid-season/trade deadline deal. But the nice thing about a deal like that is the Twins are getting Marquez for the short term AND long term. Getting him away from Coors intrigues me.

O.K. Just put this together WITHOUT Lewis being a part of the deal. Would the Reds do this ?? I don't know, but it's a "FAIR" trade. Twins Get: Castillo SP 110.8 value Castellanos RF --17.60 value (his negative value is needed to make this even remotely possible. Total Value 93.20 Reds Get: Max Kepler RF 53.6 value Duran SP 17.90 value Dobnak SP 10.00 value Austidillo C 6.40 value Enlow SP 4.10 value N. Gordan SS 1.3 value Total Value: 93.20 It rates as a "FAIR" trade. Castillo makes the Twins SP truly elite: Castillo, Berrios, Maeda, Pineda, Happ Castellanos replaces Max Kepler in RF. Defense is nowhere near as good but he's a better hitter in EVERY way (and remember, Castellanos MUST be included to make this work). Reds get a very valuable player in Kepler who is still young. They get 3 starting pitcher prospects headlined by Duran who could end up being a Castillo. They get the versatile Austudillo and a SS prospect in Gordon who may not be good enough but is worth taking and giving an opportunity too. There you have it.

I've gamed this before on Baseball Trade Values and it's incredibly difficult. Castillo's trade value is something like 120. The best deal I made involved moving Lewis in a package. That's not possible now. I agree with the premise: Castillo puts the Twins SP over the top and in a short series Castillo, Berrios & Maeda would be VERY tough. Those 3 can match up with anyone. With SP like that you will play close, low scoring games (Kind of like 60's, 70's and 80's baseball). But you would have power with Cruz, Donaldson, Sano, Kepler, Garver, and even Buxton to make a difference in a close, low scoring game. Think Oakland A's in the 70's. Unfortunately with Lewis and his value of about 45 you're simply cleaning out the top quality in the system to get one player.